Chicken Pot Pie Soup

It has been a wonderful week, but it has been a very busy week!  As you know, school for us started on Monday.  Bill is in the process of changing jobs, so we have been trying to get everything together for that change, including me trying to remove the embroidery from his Frito Lay work shirts.  We went to visit a friend yesterday, and Alissa and Jacob ended up spending the night with their friends. 

With Bill in the process of changing jobs, our budget has been quite tight.  Today, I stared at the cupboards trying to figure out what to prepare for supper.  Do you remember the chicken I had left from the soup I made last week?  I had it thawing, so I knew I would use it and and rice.  When I absolutely could not decide what to make.  I just shredded the chicken and threw it in the pot with the rice to cook.  I then thought I might make chicken and rice soup with vegetables in it.  I pulled out some frozen vegetables and threw them in too.  I added in some salt, pepper, garlic salt, dried parsley flakes, and Worcestershire sauce.  When I put back the frozen vegetables, the sour dough loaves were calling my name.  I pulled them out and heated them up after preheating the oven.  It was then I decided I would use the loaves as bowls and make the soup something similar to a chicken pot pie filling.  Please understand, I have never made chicken pot pie and had no idea what I was doing other than experimenting.  Luckily, I ended up being quite pleased in the end.  To the soup that was already cooking, I added two heaping tablespoons of AP flour dissolved in water.  Then I added a little more than a cup of milk and about three tablespoons of sour cream.  I added a little more salt, white pepper, and garlic salt for flavor. 

I wish I could take credit for baking these, but I can't.  :)

When the bread was done, I halved the loaves and hollowed them out to make bowls.  Then I ladled in the thick soup. 

My inexpensive meal felt quite rich in the end!  I even have plenty of soup leftover!  Everyone in the house liked it except Jacob.

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of second grade for my sweet, little Alissa Grace.  She has been doing some second grade work most of the summer, but I couldn't count the days.  I was excited to get back into a real routine.  She was worried the work would be too hard to understand.  Funny girl!  I think she was shocked at how easily she completed her work today.  We will "hit the books" pretty hard and heavy until November.  During the months of November and December, we will stray from the books to do Thanksgiving and Christmas lessons.  We did the same thing for her first grade year, and we both loved it.  It was our favorite part of the year.  I look forward to sharing with you some of those lessons.  My biggest goal for this year is to keep Jesus at the center of the lessons.  I want Alissa to see Jesus shining through me.

Last year, I started a fist day of school tradition of leaving a special pencil and a note from the teacher out on her workspace for her to find in the morning of her first day.  Of course, I did the same this year, but I was also able to add her own Bible.  It will be used for part of her lessons.  What a blessing to be able to teach and read from the Bible during our school day!

We had a really good day.  Alissa worked very hard, and she got done with lots of time left for fun activities with her little brother.  I hope she continues to enjoy our curriculum this year.

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

It is August already, and I have been thinking about and looking forward to fall.  It has me craving the comfort foods of fall and winter.  The other day, I made chicken noodle soup.  My family loves it.  I normally make it in the cooler months, but I just thought it would be good when the craving for comfort food snuck up on me.

I started by boiling one whole chicken in chicken broth.  I like to use my own broth, but this time I used a prepared box broth without msg added.  While the chicken cooked, I chopped three cups of carrots and three cups of celery.

After boiling the chicken, I removed it from the broth and cut the chicken in half.

Don't worry if the chicken isn't completely
done.  It will finish cooking in the soup.  Of
course, mine was falling apart!

I put one half of the chicken in the freezer to use later and shredded the other half to use in the soup.

I strained the broth that remained after boiling the chicken to remove some of the fat.  The broth and chicken were added back to the pot.  Then I added in the vegetables and noodles.

I had to add a little more broth as the noodles cooked to keep the soup from being too thick.  Water can be used in place of broth if you wish.  You may want to add a little salt and pepper after adding either.

Look at that pure yumminess!!!  As soon as the noodles and vegetables were done, I served it up and smiled as the children inhaled it!

What comfort foods are you looking forward to?

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!

Egg-xact Date

During my involuntary fast from the internet we had a new addition to the farm.  My little Jacob made the discovery.  My "mommy heart" swelled with love to see the smile it brought to his face, and to know my children are building life-long memories.  This is Speckles with her new little chick.

I also lost my favorite chicken, Marge.  She was our Easter Egger that gave us our blue eggs.  I really tried not to cry over a chicken, but I couldn't help it.  She was a sweetheart who must have thought she was a dog the way she followed me around and let me love on her.  Oh, the circle of life.

On a lighter note, I thought I would share how I organize and store our eggs.  For the longest time, I had a very difficult time remembering which eggs were the oldest and how old each egg was.  It finally occurred to me to put the date on the egg after I had washed and dried them.

I also rotate the eggs every couple of days to move the oldest to the top of the carton.  I can't tell you the last time I had to purchase eggs at the store.  Right now, I have a little over two dozen in the refrigerator.  Our farm eggs are so rich and yellow.  I feel so blessed to be able to raise our own chickens and have fresh, free-range chicken eggs!

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!

I'm Still Here!

Hello friends!  I have missed you!  My computers have been "sick," so I haven't been able to post anything for a while. I have also just been trying to adjust to some life changes in our family.  I just wanted to let you know I haven't abandoned my blog.  I have new posts coming soon now that one of my computers is back up and running!  I will see you soon!

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!

Kids' Choice Projects

Do you remember when I said I was going to spend some undivided time with the children, and I was going to let the children pick out a project for us to do?  Well, I kept my word.  They each picked out a project.  Of course, I had to do most of the labor, but we had great results.

The first project was Jacob's.  He wanted a cape made from an adult t-shirt.  His project was easy.  There was no sewing or thinking involved, lol!  Here is a look at his.

Alissa's project was a bit more complicated.  It required A LOT of thinking, pondering, procrastinating, and pulling a sewing machine out of a three year hibernation.  Have I mentioned I don't sew?  I thought the project through and planned it in my head, but when it came down to actually sewing, I chickened out!  I had to ask my mother to come down and hold my hand, lol!  That presented another problem.  She didn't have the advantage of having thought the project through as I had. 

This is Mama trying to make sense of what I
was telling her.  Notice, she is not behind the
machine.  ;)

Our ideas of how to put the project together didn't exactly match, but we had fun laughing at ourselves.  She thought I was kidding when I told her I had forgotten the very little bit I had ever known about sewing.  It didn't take her long to figure out I wasn't!  :) 

Haha!  She finally ended up behind the
machine on one little part I just couldn't handle.
I did do most of the sewing, though!

The final product wasn't perfect, but it was good enough to make my little girl happy.  That and enjoying the time with my mother is what mattered most.  Here is a look at Alissa's project.  It is a sleeping bag for her Bummy.  I wasn't ready to tackle a zipper, so we used Velcro instead.  Alissa picked the fabrics.  The inside of the sleeping bag is made from an old t-shirt.

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!

No Bake Mocha Cappuccino Dream Cookies

My friend Terresa in Tennessee and I are 'Nuts' about Nutella.  She introduced me to this recipe.  The original recipe used Nutella, but she didn't have any.  Instead, she used a new product from Jif called Mocha Cappuccino flavored Hazelnut Spread.  The day she shared the recipe on Facebook, I just quickly jotted down the recipe.  I had no idea I was going to like these so much and would want to share them on my blog.  I tried to go back and find it so I could give proper credit, but I was unsuccessful.  I'll be sure to add it if I come back across it.  In the mean time, HURRY!  Go to the store and get this spread!  Then, whip up this recipe ASAP!  If you like coffee, you are going to LOVE these!

3T Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 Stick butter
2c Sugar
1/2c Milk
1t Salt
3c Quick Cooking Oats
1t vanilla
1/2c Mocha Cappuccino flavored Hazelnut Spread

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, salt, cocoa powder, and butter.  Bring to a rolling boil over medium heat.  Remove from heat and add the oats, hazelnut spread, and vanilla (in that order) stirring well.  Drop by spoonfuls onto foil or wax paper.

I dare you to try and wait for them to cool completely before you try one!

(Update:  Terresa found the original recipe for me!  Here is the link:  http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.grocerybudget101.com%2Fcontent.php%2F316-No-Bake-Nutella-dreams&h=EAQGBBPub  I know some readers don't use Facebook.  Not to worry!  This link won't take you there.  It goes to the site for the recipe on www.grocerybudget101 . :) )

Until we meet again, may you be blessed!